Detective

after Albrect got hit. He knows about Albrect. He shows up at the casino. He gave a phony name, he’s got a phony background. What the fuck else could it be?”
    TONY: “So what are we gonna do?”
    PLUTO: “I want the fucker, and I want him bad. I want the coke back, but that’s incidental right now. I just want the fucker hit.”
    TONY: “Agreed.”
    I’d known this was coming, but somehow hearing it made it worse. It was like hearing a judge sentence you to death.
    PLUTO: “I want him hit, and I want him hit fast. That’s one thing. There’s another thing.”
    TONY: “What’s that?”
    PLUTO: “How the hell’d he get on to us in the first place?”
    TONY: “I don’t know.”
    PLUTO: “Yeah. Well, I do. Murphy fucked up.”
    TONY: “Murphy’s a civilian.”
    PLUTO: “Yeah, well he fucked up.”
    TONY: “Yeah, but Murphy doesn’t know enough to fuck up.”
    PLUTO: “Maybe not, but he did. This guy got in through Murphy. Now Murphy may be a civilian, but he knew Albrect was making the run. He may not have known why or what for, but he knew Albrect was doing something for us. And somehow, some way, Murphy let this guy in.”
    A pause.
    TONY: “I’m not sure what you’re saying.”
    PLUTO: “I’m saying Murphy may be a civilian, but he’s become somewhat of a liability, you know what I mean?”
    TONY: “Yeah.”
    PLUTO: “I gotta make a call. I gotta call Ospina.”
    I should have switched to the telephone tape, but I couldn’t. I was hypnotized, transfixed by what I was hearing. I just sat there, unbelieving, as Pluto dialed the phone.
    PLUTO: “Hello, let me talk to Angelo. . . Hello, Angie, Victor. . . I got a problem. . . with the last shipment. . . No, it’s not your problem, it’s my problem. At least, I don’t think it’s your problem. I think it’s at my end. If it is, I take full responsibility. If it turns out it’s at your end, we can make an adjustment later, O.K.?. . . Yeah. Good. . . Well, it’s like the Albrect thing, only worse. . . We got ripped off. . . The whole shipment. . . I tell you, I take responsibility. Only the problem goes a little deeper than that. I mean, the whole operation could be in jeopardy. . . Yeah. So I could use a little help. . . Yeah, like with Albrect. So can you put Pedro on a plane. . . Yeah. . . One or two. At least one, right away, but there’s a second, and the second is the important one Tonight?. . . O.K.. . . Have him call with the flight number and Carlos will pick him up at the airport. . . great. . . I’ll keep you posted.”
    There was the sound of Pluto replacing the receiver.
    PLUTO: “All set. Pedro will fly in tonight. Carlos, you pick him up at the airport like before.”
    TDU: “Sure, boss.”
    PLUTO: “Tony, you’ll have to coordinate this.”
    TONY: “Me?”
    PLUTO: “Yeah. Murphy’s your boy. You’ll have to point him out. Take Pedro there in the morning, and point him out on his way to work.”
    TONY: “O.K.”
    PLUTO: “He can’t do it then, though. This can’t be a quick hit and run. It’s gotta be a message, like the other two. We gotta give the fuck who ripped us off something to think about. So after you finger Murphy, bring Pedro back here. He can pick him up when he leaves work. He can get him at home, in a restaurant bathroom, or a parking lot, that’s no problem, we leave that to Pedro, he knows his job.”
    TONY: “I know.”
    PLUTO: “Then we nail that other son of a bitch.”
    There was more, but it was all along the same lines. I listened to it all, and shut the machine off.
    Despite what I had just heard, I was remarkably calm. I’d dreaded hearing the tape, but now that I’d heard it it wasn’t that bad. I mean it was that bad, but the realization wasn’t as bad as the anticipation had been. At least I knew exactly what they were going to do.
    And, finally, I had a plan.

31.
    M URPHY W AS S MILING A LL O VER his face as he ushered me into his inner office.
    “Mr. Armstrong, how nice to see you again.”
    “That’s fine,” I told him. “But the name’s not Armstrong. I’m a private detective, and I’m investigating the Albrect murder. Incidentally, your buddies weren’t too pleased about you bringing me around their little establishment, so they’ve put out a contract on you. Aside from that, how are you?”
    Murphy turned white as a sheet, and sank down onto his couch. I went over to the bar and poured him a brandy, just as he’d done